Guardians of the Galaxy

The more modern version of the Guardians, operating in the present day, was only created during the epic Annihilation event of 2006.

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Organisation

Full Name:
Guardians of the Galaxy.

Purpose:
Originally to revolt against the Badoon. Now guarding the galaxy.

Modus Operandi:
Respond to trouble.

Extent of operations:
Galactic.

Bases of Operations:
Earth, or Mobile.

Major Funding:
Various sources.

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Known Enemies:

• Badoon.
• Bubonicus.
• Force.
• Loki.
• Malevolence.
• Protégé.
• Rancor’s Mutants.
• Korvac.
• Taserface.

Known allies:
Galactic Guardians.

Membership

Number of active members:
6.

Number of reserve members:
4.

Organizational structure:
Loose. They have one assigned leader at a time, voted for by the group.

Known current members:

• Aleta.
• Vance Astro.
• Charlie-27.
• Martinex.
• Nikki.
• Yondu.

Known former members:

• Cuchulain.
• Replica.
• Starhawk.
• Talon.
• Yellowjacket (DeMara).

Membership requirements:
Invitation.

History

Invasion

In 3007 the Badoon launched a massive invasion of Earth and its colonized planets, as far away as Centauri IV. They wiped out much of the population and enslaved the rest.

There were only two know survivors of the invasion of Centauri IV. The time-displaced astronaut, Vance Astro, and the last Centauri, Yondu, tried fleeing in Astro’s ship. Failing, they were captured by the Badoon, and transported to the conquered Earth.

Once on Earth they managed to escape. The pair joined up with Charlie-27 and Martinex, the last survivors of the Jupiter and Pluto colonies, respectively. Deciding to oppose the occupying Badoon, they called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Martinex became their leader.

Escaping from the Badoon while on a mission on Jupiter, they found a hidden structure beneath the ocean of Europa. They would learn years later that it had been the staging area the mutants used when they left Earth. This evacuation took place prior to the Martian invasion, a thousand years earlier.

Finding an unfinished space-craft, they spent the next six months making it spaceworthy. Then they returned to Earth to fight the Badoon.

Revolt

In 3014, Earth woman Tarin was accidentally hurled back a millennium into an alternate (but similar) timeline. She ended up in Earth-616 . She returned with Captain America, the Thing, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter. They allied with the Guardians, helping them free New York City from the Badoon, before returning to their own time.

The Guardians travelled to that earlier time. They were searching for a Badoon memory tape which held details of the alien’s previous, failed, invasion of Earth. Encountering the Defenders, they helped them defeat the monster Eelar. Eelar had been created by the Badoon device mutating the local wildlife.

The Guardians failed to learn what they’d hoped to from the memory tape. But the Defenders agreed to return with them to the 31^st Century to help free the Earth. They returned together, and, with the help of the mysterious Starhawk, finally routed the Badoon Empire. The Defenders returned home, and Starhawk joined the Guardians.

Post-War Blues

Unable to fit into Earth society, the Guardians set out together as space explorers aboard the spaceship Captain America. They used royalties from docu-chips of the histories Vance recorded while on his 1,000 year journey.

They rescued the young Mercurian, Nikki, also the last of her race, from an abandoned spacecraft where she’d been stranded for years. She joined the team.

Their journey:

• Brought them into conflict with the enormous space creature Karanada, ’the emptiness that devours’.
• Landed them on a planet that turned out to be an insane asylum populated by a variety of aliens.
• Led to an encounter with the planet-sized Topographical Man.
• Had them meet Aleta. They then discovered the truth about her and Starhawk, when her father, Ogord the Reaver, caught up with them seeking revenge.

The Captain America was destroyed in battle against the Reavers. But the team recovered the space station Dry Dock. There they found their new ship, the Freedom’s Lady.

The Korvac saga

Encountering Thor of Earth-616 when he was dragged to their time by the cyborg Korvac. The Guardians helped Thor battle Korvac and his Minions of Menace, although Korvac escaped. Korvac’s escape led him to Galactus’ vacant ship, where he interfaced his systems with it, massively empowering him.

Renaming himself Michael the Enemy, he travelled back to the 20^th Century to kill the young Vance Astro. His goal was to negate the formation of the Guardians. Returning to his 20^th Century, the Guardians joined the Avengers in hunting down Korvac.

Korvac’s agenda changed when he reached the past, and he became a threat to the universe as a whole. They faced him, and he killed most of them. But, betrayed by his love, he chose to give up his own life, returning those he’d slain to life.

During their months-long stay the Guardians were granted honorary Avengers membership. Vance again met his younger self. He took the opportunity to unleash the boy’s latent powers, despite his teammates’ protests. Astro hoped to ensure he wouldn’t grow up making the same mistakes.

This event caused the divergence in their timelines . They returned to the 31^st Century soon after.

Korvac Quest

The Guardians again returned to the past. They were trying to capture the energies released by Korvac’s death before they returned to the 31^st Century. If they reached that time, they would paradoxically provide the original force which empowered him.

This quest saw them encounter the Fantastic Four in the 20^th Century, Thor (Dargo) in the 26^th Century, and the Silver Surfer in the 28^th Century.

Unable to capture the energies in these timelines, they finally caught up to them decades before their own time. There the energies inhabited Korvac’s father. Knowing the Guardians would threaten his son, he battled them. He was killed when his newly-born son absorbed the powers, remembering his past life.

The Guardians only won with aid from the Ancient One (formerly Dr. Strange), and his disciple, Krugarr, the current Sorcerer Supreme. They returned the power to Galactus, restoring the child to a normal infant. They returned Korvac to his mother, who swore her son would grow up to take his revenge upon them.

Returning to their own time, Vance recognised a picture in one of Yondu’s holy texts as being Captain America’s shield. The Guardians embarked on a search for it.

Hunt for the Shield

Following a lead on a remote planet, they discovered hints they weren’t the only ones searching for the shield. They were also attacked by Taserface, a scout for the Stark, who claimed the world as theirs. The Guardians defeated him, but reinforcements soon arrived, proving overwhelming.

The battle resulted in the destruction of the Freedom’s Lady, and the splitting of Starhawk and Aleta.

With the arrival of Firelord, the Guardians were able to drive off the Stark. They took one of the Stark’s ships for their own, naming it the Captain America II.

They eventually found the shield on an abandoned world run by the computer system Mainframe. Mainframe was the consciousness of the former Avenger, Vision. They met the mercenary group Force, who’d also been searching for the shield. The Guardians were forced to compete against them in battles assigned by Mainframe, to determine which team was worthy.

The results of the other competitions a draw, it came down to Vance and Interface, the leader of Force. Vance lost. Interface claimed the shield, but was mystified when it didn’t give him the powers he was expecting. Vance took advantage of his opponent’s reaction to seize the shield.

Mainframe teleported Force light years away, announcing Vance worthy of wielding the shield. Vance assumed the identity of Major Victory.

World of Mutants

Mainframe told them the location to the lost colony of human mutants who’d left Earth a millennium earlier. The Guardians set out to find them. On the journey they came across a derelict ship with unusual life signs. Exploring it woke the suspended Malevolence.

She attacked, focusing her rage on Aleta, whom she claimed was her rival as matriarch to a child. When she sensed Starhawk, seeing to Martinex in the medical bay, she made for him. But he convinced her she’d awakened too early, and she departed.

Arriving at Haven, they found a human majority oppressed by the mutant elite, led by Rancor. The Guardians allied with the resistance, clashing with the mutants. Meanwhile Starhawk awakened the Phoenix Force residing in the dying planet, providing it a new host in the form of one of the resistance members.

Phoenix helped the Guardians evacuate the populace to Mainframe’s world before the planet died. He then accepted being placed in suspended animation with his powers held in check. Rancor and the surviving mutants also escaped the destruction of the planet.

The shapechanging teenage resistance member, Replica, stowed away with the Guardians. She was soon accepted as a member, despite Nikki’s loud objections.

The Universal Truth

Responding to a distress call from Firelord, they saved him from Overkill, the rebuilt Stark formerly known as Taserface.

Following the fight, the team were confronted by the Spirit of Vengeance. The Spirit resided on the nearby planet, Sarka, where he fought the Universal Church of Truth. He’d mistaken them for Church reinforcements, which was exacerbated when the Universalite Replica recognised him and attacked.

Calling a truce when the real reinforcements arrived, the Guardians allied with the Spirit. They agreed to investigate the Church.

The Guardians travelled to Homeworld, the centre of the Universalite faith. There they learnt the embodiment of the faith (and the product of their genetics programs) Protégé, had come of age and contests were under way to choose his matriarch. The contest also allowed him to observe and mimic the powers of the candidates.

The Guardians were attacked by Force before they reached Homeworld. Force had been overwhelmed by Malevolence and forced to obey. The groups clashed, before Force agreed to team-up with them against Malevolence. They reached Homeworld, where Aleta challenged Malevolence for the role of matriarch.

Aleta had the upper hand, until Starhawk reabsorbed her, departing quickly. Replica stayed with Protégé, to counter the effect of Malevolence as his matriarch. Protégé reluctantly allowed the others to leave, sending his forces after Starhawk.

Return to Earth

Unable to find Starhawk, the Guardians revoked his membership in absentia. They then returned to Earth, which they found in ruins. After reuniting with Tarin and her team of guerrilla fighters, the Commandeers, in New York, they learned the population had become addicted to realitee-vee. It was an holographic television emitting a narcotic gas.

They took the fight to the Punishers, a street gang. These guarded the technology for its controllers, the few remaining Badoon on the planet. During the conflict they gained new team member, Talon. The Guardians also met Commandeer Hollywood, formerly known as Wonder Man.

Following their victory, most of the Guardians decided to stay on Earth and help in the recovery. Martinex, believing the Guardians could do more good on a larger scale, left to form another team, the Galactic Guardians, with the help of Mainframe. Vance became team leader.

When Rancor’s mutants appeared on Earth, they again clashed with the Guardians. Tracking them to Madripoor, the Guardians attacked. This battle which was complicated when Starhawk returned, darker than before, and briefly allied with the mutants while under Mindscan’s sway. The battle ended with the mutants mysteriously teleported away.

Galactus

The Keeper, formerly the Silver Surfer, then arrived on Earth to protect it from Galactus. However, he discovered that Galactus had deceived him as to his destination, actually travelling to one of Centauri IV’s neighbours. He enlisted the Guardians’ help, and they confronted Galactus.

With Yondu’s permission, the Keeper teleported the aquatic natives of Galactus’ target to Centauri IV. Meanwhile, Firelord and the Guardians delayed Galactus. The Keeper then faced Galactus, beating his weakened enemy and preparing to put an end to him.

He was stopped by Eon, who convinced him to spare Galactus, and help him feed without loss of life. Keeper became Galactus’s herald again, although on a more equal footing.

When Yondu discovered surviving Centaurians living beneath the surface, he elected to stay with his people, leaving the Guardians.

Pre-emptive Retribution

Charlie-27 then came up with a plan to stop the Badoon ever invading Earth. The Guardians used Drydock to return to the 20^th Century of Earth-616, not telling Vance until they were on the way.

(It’s unclear how they expected this to effect their future since the two realities had diverged prior to this point. And even more unclear how it later managed to actually change things.)

When Talon came down with a hereditary Inhuman disease in transit, their first port of call in the 20^th Century was Attilan. There they encountered the Inhuman royal family. But both groups were attacked by dark doppelgängers caused by the current cosmic crisis .

Travelling to Earth, they arrived at Avengers’ Mansion. The Guardians were in time to battle an invasion by the Masters of Evil while the Avengers were absent. Again, both teams were attacked by evil doppelgängers. Among the Masters was Yellowjacket (Rita DeMarr), who’d been forced to join the team. She turned on them, helping the Guardians win.

Leaving Vance at Avengers mansion due to his objections to their plan, Charlie, Nikki and Talon travelled to the Badoon homeworld. They planned to destroy it. Vance warned the Badoon, though, so they were prepared.

The Badoon emperor offered to promise never to invade Earth if they could beat his champion. He gave the Guardians the location of the Badoon birthing hatcheries as collateral. They accepted the challenge. After an internal conflict, Charlie won the right to fight the battle.

Unfortunately, a Badoon warrior had been visited by the Captain Universe power. Thus, Charlie didn’t do well. Vance, after meeting with Captain America, contacted Dr. Strange for help, and Strange took him to the Badoon homeworld, arriving just in time to save Charlie.

They got away, although Yondu’s knife, which he’d given Charlie, was left behind. The metal caused the Badoon’s interest in their planets.

Galactic Guardians

Returning to the 30^th Century, the Guardians discovered a pair of stowaways. One was Yellowjacket, who joined the team. The other was Dormammu, who merged with his contemporary self, becoming more powerful. The empowered Dormammu attacked them, and the Guardians of the Galaxy battled him alongside the Galactic Guardians and the Ancient One.

The battle destroyed Dry Dock, and saw Dormammu kill the Ancient One. But the Guardians eventually won, when Talon aided Krugarr in the sorceries necessary to vanquish Dormammu. The Galactic Guardians gave the Guardians of the Galaxy their ship, the Icarus. Then, the Guardians of the Galaxy returned to Earth.

The Galactic Guardians had recently fixed a breach in reality caused by Bubonicus. It was a hole between their reality and the Beyonder’s universe, which had made the latter aware of this new reality.

Investigating, the Beyonder visited Vance during the Guardians’ journey back to Earth. He revealed that he’d taken Protégé and Malevolence captive.

Another Couple Revolutions

Returning to Earth, they found the surviving Commandeers held captive by Rancor’s mutants. The mutants had co-opted the Realitee-Vee technology. Battling them again, the Guardians discovered the mutants had been teleported away last time by Doctor Doom, who forced them to serve him.

Chafing under his command, Rancor turned on him, forcing Doom to flee. The Guardians beat the mutants, who escaped. Then Starhawk destroyed the Realitee-Vee devices for good. Vance gave his shield to Tarin, now President of the Northeast Corridor (which included America). Vance believed it could do more good as a symbol than as a weapon.

Deciding to free the Inhumans from their enslavement, the Guardians travelled to the Moon. There they were opposed by an elite group of Inhumans (Composite, Wormhole, Stupor, Phobia and Imprint) who willingly served the dictator of the Inhumans, Loki. He’d spent decades of selective breeding and holding gladiatorial bouts to prepare them for the conquest of Asgard.

The Guardians arrived as he was preparing for the invasion. They helped Woden, son of Thor, defeat Loki’s forces. Loki and the Inhumans were banished to the Black Canyon.

Beyond

Then, Aleta announced they needed to confront the threat of the Beyonder. The Guardians travelled to Centauri IV to request Yondu’s help. He was initially hostile due to their leaving his dagger with the Badoon in the past, where it caused repercussions that left the present Centauri IV an inhospitable world. Centauri-Badoon hybrids were now threatening his people.

The Guardians encountered the returned Stakar. Starhawk and Aleta came to blows. This conflict which was only halted when the Hawk God appeared and joined them at the hand to force them to work together. Travelling to the past, they recovered the dagger, fixing the problem.

Before they returned, the other Guardians were taken by the Beyonder to help him oppose Protégé, Malevolence and Mephisto. The Beyonder underestimated Protégé’s abilities, and the child copied some of his power.

His growing abilities drew the attention of the cosmic powers. Thus Protégé and the Beyonder were judged by the Living Tribunal.

• Mephisto and Malevolence were banished somewhere unknown by Protégé, who’d learned they planned to manipulate him.
• Beyonder was banished to his own realm.
• Protégé was imprisoned for eternity in a Celestial hourglass.

The Guardians were returned to their ship.

Ripjak

Returning to their own universe, the Guardians were ambushed by Rancor’s Lieutenants. They’d gained access to and sabotaged the Guardians’ ship. Taken captive, they were transported to Haven II, where Rancor had taken the Inhumans after enslaving them.

Separated, the Guardians were pitted against the mutants in individual fights. Before the Guardians could deal with Rancor, Talon used his magic to teleport them back to the Icarus, and far away from Haven II. The Guardians were left without Charlie, who hadn’t been on the planet with them. Talon refused to tell them why he’d done so.

The tram learned that Charlie had been imprisoned in the infamous Stockade. He was accused of being the intergalactic serial killer, Ripjak. The Guardians recruited Cuchulain as a temporary member to help them break Charlie out.

Despite the prison having Drax the Destroyer as a secret weapon, the Guardians succeeded. And when Sidestep secretly betrayed Rancor by giving them clues, they also cleared Charlie’s name. They then began the hunt for the real Ripjak.

Their search led them to the quarantined Mars. There, the Guardians discovered Ripjak was actually the last Martian. The Martians had been wiped out by the being known as Bubonicus. Since then Ripjak had been travelling the universe battling the spread of Bubonicus’ powers, his victims having already been infected.

Despite the objections of the rest of others, Vance allied with Ripjak to hunt Bubonicus. The reasoning was that his suit made him the only Guardian who could resist Bubonicus’ power. They were joined by the High Evolutionary, and the three tracked Bubonicus to the planet Sanctuary.

Confronting him, they gained the upper hand. But Bubonicus took advantage of Vance and Ripjak’s difference of opinion over whether to arrest or kill him, and escaped. Disgusted with Vance, Ripjak followed Bubonicus alone. The High Evolutionary followed him after saving the natives.

Change of Management

Returning to the Icarus, Vance discovered the other Guardians had decided to hold an election. But they took personal time beforehand, to allow tempers to cool. Yellowjacket left to return to her own era, and Talon keft to study with Krugarr. When the Guardians regrouped, they held the election for leader, which Charlie won.

Charlie’s first command led them back to the 21^st Century with the returned Martinex, and Hollywood. Their objective was to halt the Martian invasion before it ever happened. The rest of the team at this time comprised of Charlie-27, Aleta, Nikki, Vance, and Yondu.

They succeeded. But the Inhuman, Wormhole, who’d escaped the Black Canyon alone, took his revenge. He opened a second warp as they returned to their own time, seeing them crash on an unidentified planet in an unidentified time period.

DC Universe History

The Badoon invasion occurs a century earlier. When the Guardians leave Earth, after finally driving the Badoon away, they rename themselves the Wanderers. Their travels are delayed when they stumble into a time warp, emerging almost a century later, where they encounter the Legion.

Having no real links to their previous time-period, they don’t bother using their craft’s time travel technology to return there.

By Gareth Lewis.

Source of Character: Marvel Comics.

Helper(s): Comicvine.com .

Writeup completed on the 26^th of August, 2012.